The Gloom of the Grave
Synopsis: The Unknown Sailor case reaches its intense and brutal conclusion! Meanwhile, Ken discovers something shocking about the identity of the masked vigilante. Plot: The chapter opens with Ashley Twain being confronted by Regina Clipper over the death of her lover Mark Grist. She is enraged that she didn't know of his fate for all those years. Although she initially attacks Ashley, Regina states that she had nothing to do with the deaths of Desmond and Cal. In fact, she was trying to protect them from the actual killer who found the love letters between her and Mark. As Regina reveals this, the Unknown Sailor comes up behind and stabs her. He is revealed to be Stewart Clipper, who calls his mother a “lying, cheating, whore” as she dies. In a police cruiser, Mal and Natara try to piece together the story. By this point, the police discover that Regina Clipper’s bags were hastily packed in her apartment. Mal suggests that Regina is the killer and is now on the run, which Natara disagrees with. She examines the letters and find that they are very old, suggesting that this affair continued for an extended period of time. Grist’s murder wasn’t premeditated and her own child was involved, leading Natara to believe Regina may not be involved. Suddenly, they receive a call and head to Ashley’s apartment where Captain Yeong is berating Officer Willis over the death of Councilwoman Clipper. Natara finally realizes Stewart is responsible for the murders. Stewart, who now holds Ashley in captivity leads her to the dock where a crowd is watching an Independence Day show. He forces her on board his mother's yacht, where he ties her to the boat’s railing. The two proceed to sail off into the bay. Mal and Natara plan to head to the sailing camp, as she deduces that this area was responsible for his initial trauma. Just then, the radio tells them that about the yacht that sailed into the bay. Mal says he plans to recreate his first kill with Ashley. Although Mark’s death was technically an accident, Stewart doesn’t see it as such. The two board a boat and head out after Stewart, who is in the middle of blaming Ashley for him being on Mark’s yacht that night. If she hadn't gone he wouldn’t have come along. He is still claiming that it wasn’t an accident, because for a split second he could have grabbed Mark’s hand when the wave hit the rowing boat, but he didn’t. Instead he just stood there. Stewart reveals that he’s agonized over this for ten years. Most of the time he thinks that there was nothing he could do and that he froze up, but sometimes he thinks that he did it because of his hatred for Mark, who he felt was constantly watching and hovering over him. Stewart, who is trying to recreate the night of Mark’s death, lights firecrackers(cherry bombs) and throws them into Ashley’s lap, which doesn’t kill her but hurts significantly. Mal and Natara figure out where Stewart is after hearing the firecrackers and ram the yacht. They drop down into the boat. Mal deals with him, while Natara undos Ashley’s bindings. Mal loses his gun when a wave hit the boat and Stewart comes at him with the spear, which he breaks. He proceeds to grab Stewart’s rope necklace and launches him into the crate of fireworks and fuel cans, which mixes them together. At this point, Stewart claims that Mal can’t defeat him because he’s been on the sea his entire life. He even goes as far as saying that the sea was his father and gave him more than his mother ever did. Natara steps in and aims her gun at him as he describes his rage over seeing Ashley, Desmond, and Cal move on from Mark’s death, while he had panic attacks and saw Mark’s face everywhere. They had to die for concealing the truth. He was able to keep quiet about Mark’s death because he believed he had been responsible for an innocent man’s death, but upon finding the letters he realized he was also his father. He killed his own father who had been trying to get close to him and his mother kept it a secret. He felt that his mother's actions robbed him of a normal life. After revealing this, he pulls out a lighter, intending to kill everyone on the boat. The three jump off the boat as it explodes. As the fireworks subside, they board the other boat and watch the Independence Day fireworks. Suddenly, a hand reaches for Natara, who turns and stares directly into Stewart’s horribly burned face. A spear erupts from his throat as Ashley stabs him. After this, she states that she will reveal everything to the press, since secrets are what caused this problem initially. They return to the docks. Mal questions why Regina and Mark concealed the relationship, and Natara reasons that having an affair with an 18 year old as a 20 something year old camp counselor would have been grounds for his dismissal. Mal says that honesty would have prevented his death, and the two decide to go to Kai’s party. Later that night they go to the beach where the party is taking place. Amy tells the two that Ken discovered something crazy in his investigation that he won’t reveal. He arrives shortly after she says this and discloses that he’s been tracking the masked vigilante through the tape given to him by the gun dealer. Natara is incredibly shocked as it is revealed the vigilante is Shawn Mallory. Bonus Scene: Shawn pulls into the garage of a home in San Francisco and meets with Genevieve Collins. They exchange in some banter as she pulls his pearl handled gun from the holster and slaps him across the face. She is angry because he bought such a specific gun and his arms dealer ratted him out, news which he is rather apathetic about. He sees this as an arrangement that will end. She then places the barrel of the gun to his head and he slaps her across the face. She is pleased that Shawn is acting like a “real man” and wants the training wheels to come off. Genevieve has allowed him to kill the people he's wanted to go after, and now she now wants him to start killing targets of her choice.